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Italian prosecutor Nicola Gratteri: Mafia may target Pope Francis

Carol J Williams

Threat from the "godfathers": Pope Francis is greeted by Italy's President Giorgio Napolitano as he arrives for a meeting at the Quirinale Palace in Rome. Photo: Reuters

Pope Francis' campaign against corruption in the Catholic Church has made Italy's most dangerous Mafia organisation ''nervous'', which could make the prelate a target, a leading Italian prosecutor warned on Thursday.

The Pope's vow to clean up church finances and break unholy alliances between priests and local crime bosses threatens the money-laundering and investment strategy of the 'Ndrangheta crime family that holds sway in the Calabria region, prosecutor Nicola Gratteri told the daily Il Fatto Quotidiano.

''I cannot say if the organisation is in a position to do something like this, but they are dangerous and it is worth reflecting on,'' Mr Gratteri said. ''If the godfathers can find a way to stop him, they will seriously consider it.''

Religion News Service, in a report from Rome, said the 'Ndrangheta Mafia group was considered the most dangerous, the most unified and the most difficult for law enforcement to penetrate.

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The warning by Mr Gratteri, one of Italy's most active organised crime fighters and under protection against mob death threats, had little apparent influence on the Pope, who has given security strategists fits with his habits of ditching his protective cordon and wading into crowds to commune with the faithful.

The pontiff showed up on Thursday at Quirinale Palace in Rome for a meeting with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano in his blue Ford Focus and only a handful of motorcycle escorts.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi played down the warning, saying, ''It's not appropriate to feed alarmism.'' He described the Pope and the Vatican staff as ''very relaxed''.

Elected in March, the Pope vowed to clean up the Vatican Bank, which has long been suspected of laundering Mafia money. ''Those who have up until now profited from the influence and wealth drawn from the church are getting very nervous,'' Mr Gratteri said. ''For many years, the Mafia has laundered money and made investments with the complicity of the church. But now the Pope is dismantling the poles of economic power in the Vatican, and that is dangerous.''

Mr Gratteri spoke with the newspaper, a relatively new publication with a reputation for crusading, about his new book, Holy Water, about church-mob alliances in southern Calabria through which much of Europe's drug traffic flows.